Australia fight back to level series
It was a match of contradictions. Sample this:
1. Australia who are normally excellent at running between the wickets and converting ones into twos had four run-outs in their innings.
2. Australia are known for their fighting qualities more than anything else, and they never give the opposition any freebies, yet of four batsmen who reached 40 in their innings, three threw their wickets away, while the lower middle order and the tail caved in without a semblance of a fight.
3. India - whose recent fielding performances have been ordinary and whose bowling has been up-and-down - displayed tigerish fielding and bowled to tight lines. Dhoni actually called it the best fielding performance in the past 18 months.
4. India's strong suit has always been their batting, and when the bowlers have done the job for them, the batsmen have mostly delivered a victory. And yet, a star-studded batting line-up failed, even though the total they were chasing was not formidable by any means.
The end-result of all the contradictions was a victory for Australia by 24 runs, whereby they levelled the series at 2-2, keeping it on a knife's edge.
MS Dhoni had won a tricky toss and, defying conventional wisdom on batting beauties, had opted to bowl first. India were going into the match with Virat Kohli who replaced the injured Gautam Gambhir, while Australia had brought back Shaun Marsh in place of Adam Voges and thus had a proper opening combination of Watson and Marsh. However, Marsh looked a far cry from the batsman who set the IPL-2008 alight, struggling to place the ball in the gaps or get it off the square. The result was that Australia got off to a steady, rather than flying start. However, Marsh (5 off 23) fell in the eighth over, and that brought Ponting to the crease. The difference in tempo was immediate with Ponting unfurling his repertoire of strokes. The first wicket partnership had consumed 46 balls while moving the score to just 24 runs - the second wicket partnership was worth 64 runs and came off just 63 balls. It ended against the run of play, with Harbhajan Singh's first ball of the match. Watson got an outside edge, and MS Dhoni completed a brilliant reflex catch to send the opener on his way one short of his half-century. The third wicket to fall was that of Ponting who was looking in supreme touch and had motored to 52 off 59 balls, before Jadeja's moment of brilliance ended his innings. This was the third time in four matches that Jadeja had accounted for Ponting, getting him lbw in the first and third matches, and using his golden arm to run him out today with a pin-point direct hit from deep mid-wicket. The fact that on each occasion Ponting had crossed fifty would not be of much solace to him.
Ponting's innings in fact mirrored that of his team - there were lots of bright moments and it was a goodish score - but it ultimately fell short of what it promised to be.
However, at 123/3 in 26.5 overs, Australia were still reasonably placed and could look at a total approaching 300 realistically. And the batsmen at the crease - Mike Hussey and Cameron White - reinforced that view with some aggressive play. They raised their fifty run stand in quick time, but once again a batsman fell against the run of play. This time it was Michael Hussey, who was also looking in fine form and had stroked and run his way to 40 off 41 balls, who holed out in the deep of an innocuous Yuvraj delivery. The stand had raised 73 runs in 68 balls, but Hussey fell just before the slog overs, when his presence at the crease alongwith a set White could have made a big difference to Australia.
With their most experienced batsmen gone, the Australia lower-middle order seemed to lose its way, and could not build on the platform provided by the top order. White threatened for a while, but he too fell victim to a good piece of fielding, when Ashish Nehra picked up the ball on his follow through and threw down the stumps in one motion as White was caught backing up too far. He had top-scored with 62 off 71 for his team, but as was the pattern through the innings, he couldn't capitalize.
From 196/3 in 38 overs, Australia slid to 250 all out in 49.2 overs. Ashish Nehra was the pick of the Indian bowlers, with figures of 8-0-37-3, while Jadeja was the most economical, conceding just 27 runs in his 7 overs.
When India came out to bat, Sehwag started off in his customary style. Anyone who had switched on the television without watching the Australian innings might have been fooled into thinking India was chasing 350 rather than 250, but as is also customary with Sehwag, he played one shot too many one time too many. After a whirlwind 30 off 19 balls, Sehwag fell, but he had gotten India off to a flyer. Virat Kohli was then given the chance to stake a more permanent claim to the international side, but he failed to grab it. Kohli made just 10 before falling to Bollinger, who had also scalped Sehwag.
At the other end, Tendulkar was playing watchfully, and seemed intent on a long stay in the middle. He built a partnership with Yuvraj, which was cruelly cut short when he was adjudged lbw to Nathan Hauritz. The ball would have missed the leg-stump by a fair margin, and Tendulkar walked back for 40 off 68 balls - just 7 runs short of reaching 17,000 runs in One Day Internationals. This was the venue where he had crossed 12,000 runs in Test matches against the same opposition, but destiny was not with him today. Tendulkar's wicket started a slide from which India found it difficult to recover.
Yuvraj and Dhoni were unable to repeat the heroics of their previous match, when they foolishly chose to take on the safest of safe men in Ricky Ponting. Ponting's throw beat Yuvraj's lunge by inches, and Yuvraj became yet another run-out victim. Had he dived rather than stretched, he might have made his ground, but as it was, India were four wickets down and in a spot of bother with 113 on the board in 23.2 overs. The spot of bother became a full-blown pot-hole when Dhoni fell to the impressive Bollinger, who had returned for a fresh spell and struck in his first over. Dhoni had made 26 off 46 and in the company of Raina looked to be establishing a solid partnership, and his wicket was vital. India were then struck a body blow with Raina's wicket who was completely outfoxed by Nathan Hauritz to be bowled. Raina was the last established Indian batsman, and the young Ravindra Jadeja succumbed under the pressure of a tight chase. In spite of the many run-outs and brilliant displays of fielding by both sides, Jadeja set off for a suicidal single - and picked of all men Ricky Ponting again.
At 7 down for 177, requiring slightly more than a run-a-ball, Harbhajan Singh and Praveen Kumar got together, with all of India hoping for a repeat performance from their first match, when they shared an 84 run stand to bring India to the brink of victory. However, this was not to be, as Harbhajan was unable to repeat his previous heroics, though he did hit a few trademark shots to score 31 off 25 balls, before being brilliantly caught and bowled by Shane Watson. The wicket would have been particularly sweet for Watson, since he was at the receiving end of Bhajji's blade in the first match. Watson then added a cherry to his cake by scalping Praveen Kumar too. Praveen had also tried to mount a challenge, scoring 16 off 19 balls, but when he was ninth out with India at 217, the writing was on the wall for India.
Australia duly completed their victory as India were all out for 226 in 46.4 overs. Doug Bollinger was the bowling hero for Australia with 3 top order wickets to return with figures of 9-2-28-3, while Watson had 3/29 from 7.4 overs.
The highest partnership in the Indian innings was just 40 runs, which was for the first wicket. That India managed to get close to the target in spite of that was because the target was low, and the tail contributed. Had the top-order strung together even one good partnership, India would have been looking at 3-1 rather than 2-2.
